"Homesun" ultra-violet lamp
- Made:
- 1927
"Homesun" ultra-violet lamp, the original model, 1927.
Hanovia Ltd advertised the Homesun as the first ever home model of a mercury vapour lamp, with the source of ultra-violet radiation in the lamp being a medium pressure mercury vapour arc in quartz. This is an example of the original model, but many further iterations of the lamp were made in later years.
UV light therapy was advocated by doctors and the military - adverts for Homesun lamps could be found in newspapers and magazines, with one wartime advert claiming "the best way of keeping fit, alert, vitalized, is to sunbathe regularly with a Homesun... Fighting men keep fit this way, and it's even better for children" (Picture Post, 1941).
The "Homesun" ultra-violet lamp was introduced at the first Heat & Light Exhibition at the Central Hall at Westminster in 1927.
On display
Science Museum: Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
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Details
- Category:
- Domestic Appliances
- Object Number:
- 1964-134/1
- Materials:
- ceramic (unspecified), copper (alloy), glass, mercury and metal (ferrous)
- Measurements:
-
Lamp: 460 mm x 260 mm x 380 mm, 6 kg
- type:
- lamp - light bulb
- taxonomy:
-
- component - object
- credit:
- Engelhard Hanovia Lamps
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